Animal Crackers
Animal Crackers - Richard
de Zoysa
“Draw me a lion.”
So I set my pen
to work. Produce a lazy, kindly beast . . .
Colour it yellow.
“Does it bite?”
“Sometimes,
but only when it’s angry—
if you pull its tail
or say that it is just another cat . . ."
But for the most part, indolent, biddable,
basking in the sun of ancient pride.
(Outside, the sunlight seems a trifle dulled
and there’s a distant roaring, like a pride
of lions, cross at being awakened
from long, deep sleep).
Then
“Draw me a tiger.”
Vision of a beast
compounded of Jim Corbett yarns
and Blake
stalks
through my mind, blazing Nature’s warning,
black bars on gold.
“DRAW!”
You turn and draw the gun
on me, as if to show
that three-years-old understands force majeure
and as you pull the silly plastic trigger
all hell breaks loose; quite suddenly the sky
is full of smoke and orange stripes of flame.
BUT HERE THERE ARE NO TIGERS
HERE THERE ARE ONLY LIONS.
And their jackals
run panting, rabid in the roaring’s wake,
infecting all with madness as they pass
while My Lord
the Elephant sways in his shaded arbour,
wrinkles his ancient brows, and wonders—
if, did he venture out to quell this jungle-tide
of rising flame, he’d burn his tender feet.
“Put down that gun. If you do, and you’re good,
I’ll draw a picture of an elephant.
A curious beast that you must understand . . . ."
DONT LOOK OUT THE WINDOW—
Just a party down the lane
a bonfire, and some fireworks, and they’re burning—
No, not a tiger—just some silly cat."
Richard de Zoysa
He
was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka. His
father Lucien De Zoysa is a Sinhalese and mother is Dr manorajani
Saravanamuthu, a Tamil lady. He did his
education at St.Thomas College, Mounta Lavinia.
His acting skills were encouraged by D.S. Jayasekara. He was honored as the Best Actor at the
national interschool Shakespeare Drama Competition 1972. He was one of the popular member of the
Debating Team and Drama Society. He was
the head of the Inter Press Service. His
political reviews stirred the younger generation of his time. He is a well-known Sri Lankan journalist and
human rights activist. He died on 18th
February 1990.
He
was awarded by UN and sponsored Inter Press Service news agency in Richard De
Zoysa’s memory
Summary
The
poem starts with the painting of a lion.
Lion represents the Sinhalese of Sri Lanka. They are going to be trapped by the rebel
Tamil terrorists. And they are represented by Tigers. The government of that time was represented
by the Elephant. The poem concludes by
the disaster on both sides. The
political situation of that time was well brought up by the poet.
Detail analysis of the poem
Stanza 1
“Draw me a lion.”
So I set my pen
to work. Produce a lazy, kindly beast . . .
Colour it yellow”
First
stanza starts with a simple conversation between the two characters. The person asks another person to draw the
picture of a lion. So starts to do the
work. The artist says metaphorically the lion is a lazy,
kindly beast to refer to something and wants to color it in yellow the color
used to symbolize the Sinhala
nationality. The description of the
animal is quite surprising. The nature
which is mentioned here is not associated with the lion. The first stanza refers the lion to the
native majority people of Sri Lanka. He
gives an introduction to the native
people of the country. The lion Symbolizes majority population of the
country.
Stanza 2
“Does it bite?”
“Sometimes,
but only when it’s angry—
if you pull its tail
or say that it is just another cat . . ."
But for the most part, indolent, biddable,
basking in the sun of ancient pride.”
The second stanza starts with
the questions. The person who request
the artist to draw the lion asks whether it would bite, he is curious to know
whether the kind lion would bite. The
poet says the nature of lion in the style of contrast and Juxtaposition. The question has been
answered in the next few lines with great message. The lion could bite sometimes when it gets
angry or if anyone pull its tail or says that it is just a normal cat
family. Comparing the king of the jungle to an ordinary tame animal cat
could not be taken as simple as that.
The poet refers to the Sinhalese, who will not take anything which could
less than they are. Then the poet says
the importance they give to their dignity and pride. It is the nature of the sons of the soil metaphorically refers to the proud
history behind Sri Lanka and its evolution.
Stanza 3
“(Outside, the sunlight
seems a trifle dulled
and there’s a distant roaring, like a pride
of lions, cross at being awakened
from long, deep sleep).”
Stanza Three
The poet now comes out of the conversation between
the two characters. He describes the
situation here. There is a sunlight
which does not shines literary well to embrace the people in its warmth. The day is quite silent and dull and not
giving anything special. Next lines
describe the roaring sound of the lions in pride which gives the idea to the
poet a feeling that the lions who were in sleep for long, being awakened. The sound
image of the poet brings the meaning of the situation, where the Sinhala
people who are referred to the lions, getting ready react and to face the
changes. Indirect message foreshadowing the future disaster of the nation
perhaps.
Stanza 4
Then
“Draw me a tiger.”
Vision of a beast
compounded of Jim Corbett yarns
and Blakessy mind, blazing Nature’s
black bars on gold.
In
this 4th stanza the artist moves to draw another animal. This time he draws a tiger as he is requested
to draw it. It has been described as a
vision of a beast. The tiger represents
the Tamil rebellion group who fought for their independent separate state in
the north of Sri Lanka. The group was referred as “The Tigers.” The poet sees the animals and thinks of
Blake’s poem “The Tyger.” He also
refers Jim Corbett who was a British hunter and tracker, he owned the national
park in India. The speaker imagines the
Tiger as black bars on gold. A visual imagery which describes the
beauty of the tiger in Blake’s poem. The images of lion and tigers give a
feeling of warning to the poet. The poet gets an unusual feeling of insecurity.
Stanza 5
“DRAW!”
You turn and draw the gun
on me, as if to show
that three-years-old understands force majeure
and as you pull the silly plastic trigger
all hell breaks loose; quite suddenly the sky
is full of smoke and orange stripes of flame.”
The
stanza moves on to describe the artist and the person who requests him to
draw. Now the situation changes the word
DRAW! Gives a yelling effect. And he
yells and draws the gun on the artist.
The poet refers the other person in that room as a small child who
points the toy gun and ask if he knows the “force
majeure”- French term for overwhelming face. The child operates the toy gun at the artist. It refers to the communal riots which
destroyed the peace, tranquility and the unity among the people “all hell
breaks loose” suddenly there is sky is
full of dark smoke and orange stripe of flame”
the stanza explains in detail the unfortunate historical civil war which
destroy the peace and burnt the happiness of the people into flames of fire. DRAW
is a pun and suggests two meaning such as to draw the image and to draw the
gun as well. Orange stripes of flames brings the destructive visuals to the
reader.
Stanza 6
“BUT HERE THERE ARE NO
TIGERS
HERE THERE ARE ONLY LIONS.”
The
6th stanza with two lines in capital letters express certain
information with emphasis. There is a
refusal to accept the presence of the tigers in real. There are no tigers visible to him, only
lions are everywhere. But tigers threaten
the peace of his world. The lines in capital
letters emphasis as if they are spoken by someone. Here too the lions and
tigers represents the majority and
the rebels.
Stanza 7
And their jackals
run panting, rabid in the roaring’s wake,
infecting all with madness as they pass
while My Lord
the Elephant sways in his shaded arbour,
wrinkles his ancient brows, and wonders—
if, did he venture out to quell this jungle-tide
of rising flame, he’d burn his tender feet.
The
seventh stanza reveals the reality of the people and the political
situation. The poet says there are
jackals run panting due to the roaring of the lions. The reaction of the people who are terrified
and run through the streets. They want
to get away from the dangerous situation.
The jackals symbolizes the
mobs who attacked and aggravated the situation.
The word Madness is a simile as they behaved out of anger. It was “infecting
all” the word infecting is compared
to a disease which led them to disaster.
Again the poet brings another animal symbol. The Elephant which represents the ruling
United National Party. The Elephant does not want to leave its safe place for
fear of burning his own feet. It may be
referred to certain political options where the power and the position are
given priority.” wrinkles his ancient
brows” brings a visual image of the elephant who wants to be in a safe
place in the critical situation.” tender
feet” is a metaphor
Stanza 8
“Put down that gun. If you
do, and you’re good,
I’ll draw a picture of an elephant.
A curious beast that you must understand . . . ."
The eight stanza speaks the condition of the young boy. He tells that if he puts down the gun he is good and he could draw the picture of the elephant. He must understand that it is a curious animals. The stanza may give an idea about the part of the Journalist who justify the misunderstandings and the anger from both side which destroys the peace of the country. Also they pacify the common people about the action taken by the ruling government. Beast metaphorically referring to the political involvements in provoking the riots.
“DONT LOOK OUT THE WINDOW—“
The ninth stanza consists only one line and it
asks all who reads the poem “DON’T LOOK OUT” this could be the voice of those
who don’t wish bring the situation under control. The capital letters give the message, on the
influence of the power which could oppress what disturb their power.
Stanza 10
“Just a party down the lane
a bonfire, and some fireworks, and they’re burning—
No, not a tiger—just some silly cat."
The final stanza concludes the innocence of the
common people. They believe what they
are told. The innocent common people are
not detailed about the burning and the killings of their neighbors. It may be hidden for a purpose. The poet is sad, disappointed and frustrated
about the bitter truth behind the scenario.
Thus the
Animal Cracker by Richard de Zoysa describes the worst political situation of
the past in Sri Lanka. The animals he
used symbolically in this poem very
well conveys the real situation. The
poem is constructed in different irregular sets of lines and
lengths. Some stresses have been
given by using the CAPTIAL
letters. The style of the poem is very reflective
of the general issue which could depress the readers. The title evokes interest to the readers as
it could be about animals. The “Crackers” which gives an idea about the
whip crackers who announces the arrival of animal in a perahara is well
synchronizing with the poem. The work “Crackers”
in the title introduces theme of the
poem, the animals and how they destroyed the peace of the nation.
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